Alfred Hecht

About Alfred Hecht

The Gallery is named after Alfred Hecht (1907-91). Alfred came to England in the mid-1920s and at first tried metal broking and the textiles business. Following the Second World War, he traded as an art dealer (he was listed as such in 1947), before setting up his well-known framing business in or before 1950. He undertook framing work for artists such Ceri Richards, Graham Sutherland and Francis Bacon, as well as for the dealer, Frank Lloyd Fisher at the Marlborough Gallery. His small business became a meeting place for artists, intellectuals and bohemians over time and due to the special personality of Hecht, among other Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon…

Hecht enjoyed entertaining, as the diaries of the Labour politician, Jennie Lee, tell: 'Alfred Hecht, who liked describing himself as a picture frame-maker, was indeed a picture frame-maker, but in addition he had the gift of recognizing genius long before the general public came to recognize it. In his home we spent happy carefree evenings with artist friends, some of whose early promise came to nothing, while others, among them Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Francis Bacon, were to reach the highest pinnacles of their profession.'

Hecht was a collector and acquired works by Francis Bacon, Massimo Campigli and Marino Marini, among others, from the Hanover Gallery, 1951-2 (Tate Archive, TGA 863/1/3).